This is the piece of the Internet that I own. Yah, I own it, fuckers! So I can type about whatever I want! I can type random combinations of letters that don't make any sense if I want to, like fuin fcisymvi. See! Done.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Quality 90's YTV Programming

Does anyone remember that weird TV show from the '90's on YTV called Maniac Mansion???? God, it was weird.

According to Wikipedia, the source for all truth in the universe:

The plot of the show is loosely based on the 1987 computer game Maniac Mansion, with several liberties being taken with the characters and stories.

The show centers around the Edisons, a family living in a large mansion in the presumably American town of Cedar Springs, headed up by father Fred (Joe Flaherty), an eccentric scientist, his wife Casey (Deborah Theaker), and their children, teenage Tina (Kathleen Robertson), pubescent Ike (Avi Phillips) and toddler Turner (George Buza). Living with the Edisons are Casey's brother Harry Orca (John Hemphill) and his wife Idella Muckle-Orca (Mary Charlotte-Wilcox).

Prior to the beginning of the series, Fred inherits the mansion from his father, also a scientist, as well as the evil, extraterrestrial meteor that was discovered living under the mansion several generations ago. The meteor possesses odd supernatural powers, causing strange things to happen around the house, including mutating toddler Turner into the body of a full-grown man and turning Harry into a creature with a human head and a fly's body. Often throughout the series, Fred performs various outlandish experiments in an attempt to return them to normal. Aside from these science fiction plot elements, the show largely followed the format of a typical sitcom, with plots revolving around such typical fare as sibling rivalry, marriage troubles, wacky neighbors and teen angst.

Maniac Mansion's brand of humor is similar to that of Canadian sketch comedy program Second City Television ("SCTV"), which shared much of the same cast and writers as Mansion. The show is filled with pop culture references and occasional parodies of movies, television shows and commercials, which served as the basis for most of the humor in SCTV.

Another staple of Maniac Mansion's humor was for the show to frequently break the fourth wall. Characters (primarily Harry) would often address the camera and talk about how the episode was going, while a few episodes were entirely meta-referential. For example, a few episodes take place "behind the scenes" of the show, where it's revealed the Edisons are actually playing themselves in a show about their lives, while the series finale, set in the future, features a grown-up Turner as a television executive who ends up creating Maniac Mansion.

Look at the huge fucking pussy! It's HUGE! And WHITE!

If that doesn't sound like a fucking riot I don't know what will to you, you desensitized bastard! Here's the theme song. It sounds like a drunken whore out on the streets of Toronto trying to make a buck. Wait a second, is that Chantel Kreviazuk!? And what's with that weird robot in the newspaper!? Does it walk around like that all the time or just when you tell it to do stuff? Can I get one? I know it was from the 90's but most cool things are still available from the 90's, like Tori Spelling. Here's a scene where the scientist Dad is trying to figure out a way to fix the fly guy "Get off my spoon you dirty bastard. You've been in the dog's shit half the day."